


Last Night You Saved My Life

by LadyShadowphyre



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Animal Transformation, Bedsharing, Canon-Typical Violence, Cooperative Showering, Dog Sam, Dog-Turned-Human Sam, Frank Discussions of Sex Between Sentient People, Hugging, Human Castiel (Supernatural), Hunter Castiel (Supernatural), M/M, Moral Ambiguity of Pet Ownership, Nosy But Helpful Motel Managers, Reverse Animal Transformation, Socially Acceptable Nudity, Witch's Familiar Sam Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28499991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/pseuds/LadyShadowphyre
Summary: It was a routine hunt, nothing Castiel Martinez hadn't handled many times before, and made easier with the help of his dog Sam. When the witch they're hunting hits Sam with a spell right before Castiel's bullet strikes home,  both man and dog are suddenly facing down a very different definition of partnership.
Relationships: Castiel/Sam Winchester
Comments: 20
Kudos: 58





	Last Night You Saved My Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rodinia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/gifts).



> Written for Rodinia! Happy (super-belated) birthday!  
> Also written for:  
> Trope Mash-Up 48: Fake Dating plus 98: Curses  
> Sam Winchester Bingo square: Bedsharing  
> SPN Fluff Bingo square: Fake Dating  
> Bad Things Happen Bingo square: Bloodstained Clothes  
> Heaven and Hell Bingo square: All Human AU  
> Good Things Happen Bingo square: Waking Up Together

**I** T WAS HARDLY the first time that Castiel Martinez had gone up against a witch, nor was it the first time he had done so with only his dog, a three-year-old Golden Retriever with dark caramel brown fur and incredibly soulful golden eyes, for back-up. The thing about his dog, whose breeder had named him Sir Samuel William Winchester the Third but who mostly answered to the name Sam, was that he may have looked and generally acted like the sweetest, most gentle giant canine imaginable, but he was also very strong, very agile and quick on his feet, and he was fiercely, viciously protective of Castiel. Several different creatures (and one particularly extreme hunter) had found that out the hard way in the past.

It didn't make it any easier to see Sam leaping forward in front of Castiel to block the spell that the witch they were hunting was about to fling at him, nor was it any easier to hear the pained howl as the spell connected, though the pain only seemed to make Sam more feral. The witch frantically cast another spell as the great dog leapt, teeth bared for the witch's throat. He overshot the mark as the spell connected and his body began to twist and change, ripping a new howl that sounded chillingly like a human scream from his throat. Castiel couldn't watch, could only hope that the iron bullets he fired into the distracted witch would kill him and end whatever curses he had flung at them.

The witch's body hit the ground. The screaming mercifully stopped, and Castiel was just starting to straighten up to go to Sam to see how much damage had been done to his best friend, when the world tilted sideways and Castiel felt something unseen punch a hole through his core. He could distantly hear someone calling his name above the roaring in his ears, could just barely make out a strange man with brown hair and no shirt scrambling towards him with a panicked expression. His last coherent thought before the world went black was that he hoped the stranger could help Sam.

**S** OMEONE WAS STROKING his hair. That was odd, Castiel thought, because he didn't have a boyfriend or husband as far as he knew, and his sister was on the other side of the country with their older brother. Not to say that it didn't feel good - it felt amazing, actually - but it was not the kind of intimacy he was used to receiving from just anyone, and the last he knew he had been... on a... hunt....

His eyes flew open in alarm, and then immediately flinched shut again as the nearby lamp light assaulted his retinae. The hand stroking his hair stilled, then moved to feel his forehead, and then pulled back to shade his eyes as an unfamiliar baritone voice asked, "Castiel? Are you awake?"

"Barely," he rasped, blinking his eyes open again to peer up at the blurry, backlit figure beside him. "What happened? Where...?"

"Easy, take it easy," the voice said again. "You've been unconscious for a really long time. I was starting to worry that I would have to take you to a doctor if you didn't wake up."

"Where are we?" Cas asked, looking around. He was starting to get concerned by the lack of a certain caramel-furred canine. "Who are you? Where... my dog, Sam... Where's Sam?"

There was a moment of silence, and then the voice said, small and strained, " _I'm_ Sam."

"Prove it," Castiel croaked out, hunter's instincts taking over in the wake of his brain being left reeling over the entire idea. There was a soft and eerily canine whine from the man, but he bowed his head in a nod.

"We were in the car... we fought a... a thing that shed its skin to look like different people? I had pinned it down while you killed it with the really shiny knife that smells like ice.... A song came on the radio with a strong drum beat and male voices telling everybody to 'rock your body'... you looked at me and said, 'don't tell Gabe,' and then turned the volume up to sing along."

"It was a shifter, and the knife is made of silver," Cas mumbled, flushing pink with embarrassment. Well. Either the man was a mind reader, or this really was his dog in human form. Castiel brought up a hand to rub at his eyes, hoping to clear some of the blurriness from his vision. His head was starting to clear, and he could vaguely remember seeing the same man sitting next to him crawling towards him as he lost consciousness, though he could have sworn the clothes he was wearing now had belonged to the witch Castiel had killed. "What happened?" 

"The witch is dead, but the last spell he cast was different," the man who was probably Sam said. "It hurt different, like being pulled apart instead of like fire, and it didn't stop when the witch died. The fire did, but the pulling didn't. And then you were falling, and I looked like you only different and bigger, and you said 'help Sam' but I'm Sam and I didn't know what was going on or what to do--"

"Sam, breathe!" Castiel croaked. Sam stopped talking obediently and took several deep breaths that Castiel recognized in bemusement as the same sort of breaths that _he_ used for meditation and keeping a calm hold on his temper. "Good boy," he said, a little awkwardly, and felt his face heat at the way Sam's human face lit up with visible joy. He swallowed against the dryness in his mouth and throat, then said, "Okay, slowly now, tell me what else happened."

"Okay," Sam nodded quickly, but to his credit he took another deep breath and slowly let it out before continuing. "You weren't awake anymore and didn't wake up again when I tried shaking you, but you were breathing. I remembered that sleeping on the ground isn't good for you, and I felt sore like I had run for a really long time without stopping, so I knew I had to get some help to take you someplace better for you to sleep." He ducked his head, and Castiel found it easy to associate the posture with lowered ears. "I thought it would stand out less if I was wearing clothes like you, so I took the clothes off the witch and put them on like I see you do. The shoes were really tight and hurt my feet, though, so I left them off."

"That's fine," Castiel assured him. It might be a little awkward to explain until they could get Sam some other clothes and shoes that fit, at least until they figured out how to fix him suddenly being human, but better to have no shoes than wear shoes that hurt. "What about the body?"

"I remembered what you always do with the bodies of the things we hunt," Sam said, perking up again. "And I found the salt packets and the fire-starter in your coat. I dug a hole to put the body in and got the salt on the body, but--" Back to the contrite pose he went. "--I had a hard time getting the fire-starter to work, and then I dropped it on the body when it started burning in my paws... hands, I guess... and it only hurt and scared me a little, but I didn't want to pick it up out of the fire on the body. I'm sorry."

"It's a lighter, they're not hard to replace," Castiel assured him. His eyebrows went up when Sam frowned and mouthed the word "lighter" a couple of times before he realized he was seeing Sam relearning the label for the lighter. "So you salted and burned the body. And then?"

"Then I carried you to the nearest place with people," Sam answered. "I couldn't remember what the name of this 'hotel' was, but the woman I asked for help knew which one I meant when I described the sign to her, and her mate gave us a ride in his truck. The manager helped me get into our room so I didn't have to figure out the little plastic card and the metal box with the lights. He noticed the blood on the witch's clothes, though, so I had to lie and say we were attacked while we were out and he got very sympathetic. He asked if I needed a doctor to patch me up, and something about 'good riddance' when I said it wasn't my blood, but I didn't ask what he meant. He also promised to check on us in the morning to see if you woke up okay."

"How long ago was that?" Castiel asked, then grimaced. "Sorry, never mind, I don't know how you'd tell me..."

"The lights on the left side of the clock changed four times," Sam surprised him by saying. "The lights on the right side changed a lot more, but they followed a pattern that repeated the same number of times as the changes on the left side." Seeing the surprise on Castiel's face, Sam offered a lopsided sort of smile. "I don't really understand how the clock works or what the lights mean, but I know you use it to measure time and I can recognize patterns."

"I can teach you what the patterns on the clock mean," Castiel offered, running a hand back through his hair. Four hours... well, that wasn't too bad, and assuming this all wasn't some vivid hallucination he didn't think he was suffering from brain damage. "Probably ought to teach you a lot of things, really."

"You mean it?" Sam sat up straighter, visibly perked up at the prospect. "You're okay with that? With me, like this?"

"It's not like we haven't encountered familiars before," Castiel reminded him, though he did his best to suppress the connotations associated with Sam being _his_ familiar. "You're still Sam, still my best friend and partner. It's going to take some getting used to, and we probably ought to call Tasha Banes at some point for tips, but unless you're upset by this...?"

"No!" Sam shook his head vigorously, sending his hair flying around his face, eyes wide. "No, I'm not upset... Well, not by the change, I mean, I'm upset that I don't know enough to help you properly in this form, but you said you can fix that by teaching me what I don't already know or haven't been able to figure out from watching and listening to you, so, no, I'm not upset by this."

"Then I think we can skip the 'how do we reverse this' step and go straight to adapting to the change," Castiel assured him, fighting down a smile. He wondered if the urge to babble was a dog thing or a Sam thing, and found that he was looking forward to finding out. "For starters, the left side of the clock shows the hour marks, going from one to twelve. Each day is two twelve-hour cycles, with twelve being either midnight or midday. The right side of the clock counts the minutes in each hour, starting at zero and going to fifty-nine before starting over again. Sixty minutes to an hour."

"Left is hours, two cycles of twelve for one day and night, sixty minutes in each hour counted on the right," Sam repeated back attentively, brightening when Castiel nodded and smiled. "What do each of the numbers look like? What numbers are showing now?"

"It's--" Castiel looked towards the clock and the red digital display, and winced. "--three forty-seven in the morning, which is too early to be awake and have enough rest. Especially if you've been awake this whole time I've been unconscious."

"I didn't want to sleep in case you didn't wake up," Sam said in a small voice that tugged at Castiel's chest. After a second of dithering - hadn't he just said this was still Sam despite looking like a human? - Castiel rolled over and reached out to pat Sam's shoulder, causing the man... dog... man-dog... _Sam_ to look considerably happier.

"You did very well," Castiel assured him, taking care to use the same tone he did whenever he had praised his dog in the past, and watched the wattage of Sam's smile increase accordingly. "You finished the hunt, got us to safety, and took care of me while I was unconscious, which is everything I would expect from a human partner, and you did it without anyone awake around to tell you how. You did very, very well," he repeated firmly.

"I love you," Sam blurted out, leaning into Castiel's hand on his shoulder much the same way he leaned into Castiel's petting when he was a dog. It made Castiel smile, because it shouldn't have surprised him to hear it spoken so plainly even with his partner's newly human shape.

"I love you, too, Sam," he said, leaning forward to tentatively bury a hand in Sam's hair the way he did with his fur when scratching behind his ears. The action caused Sam to close his eyes and moan softly in pleasure, which Castiel tried to ignore just what that sound was doing to him, and also dislodged some of the dust and dirt still clinging to them both from the hunt. Sam sneezed, looking so startled that Castiel couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe we should get cleaned up before we go to sleep, eh?"

"Shower time?" Sam asked, perking up again, and Castiel could have sworn that if Sam still had his tail he would be wagging it.

"Shower time," Castiel confirmed, pushing himself up off the bed the rest of the way. No dizziness, good. He held out a hand to Sam, who blinked at it in confusion for a moment before tentatively putting one of his hands in Castiel's like he was responding to the "paw" command, and then lit up with understanding when Castiel gripped his hand and pulled him up to his feet. "Let's go."

**C** ASTIEL HAD NOT thought this planned course of action through. As crowded as it always was to share a tiny hotel bathtub and shower with a fully grown Golden Retriever, Castiel was convinced that the awkwardness was considerably less than what he faced now. Sam was still Sam, and so was hopefully unaware of the turmoil Castiel was experiencing over sharing the less crowded shower with what looked to all relevant senses to be a tall, incredibly fit, and handsome _human_ man.

A man who was eager to learn the how-tos of taking a shower like a human, with soap and shampoo, and equally eager to apply that knowledge in washing _Castiel_.

Fortunately for Castiel's sanity, he was still too tired from the hunt to have much in the way of a physical reaction to the close proximity of Sam's new and naked form, and if Sam smelled the difference in his scent below the soap and shampoo, he didn't ask about it. He also accepted the implied restrictions for touch, watching closely as Castiel washed and rinsed his own genitals and then copying him. That did not stop him from insisting on pulling Castiel out of the shower spray just far enough to get into his space and wash the shorter man's hair for him after Castiel did the same thing for Sam practically on autopilot, and there was no hiding the way Castiel melted into Sam's touch when he did. Sam said nothing out loud, but he looked very pleased with himself over that.

Getting dried off was considerably easier with Sam as a human than as a dog, though the hair dryer still made an appearance to finish the job. Getting dressed for bed, on the other hand, was more challenging. The witch's stolen clothes were as dirty as Castiel's had been, as well as coated in blood and with a couple of suspicious holes through the shirts, and weren't ideal for sleeping in to begin with. There was Castiel's own clothing, but the difference in size between him and Sam did not inspire confidence in the chances of finding anything that would fit.

"Do we even have to wear clothes to sleep?" Sam asked, curiosity and skepticism coming through loud and clear in equal measures. It was a very tempting thought, given how much the exhaustion was starting to hit. Unfortunately, it was also tempting Castiel's hormones, which was what eventually made him reject the idea.

"You said the manager was going to check on us in the morning," he reminded Sam. "I don't know how coherent you're going to be waking up, but I know I'm not going to be able to get dressed enough to answer the door unless I'm already dressed."

"And being dressed in front of the hotel manager is important and necessary," Sam said, though it was obvious that he was basing that supposition off of observation and Castiel's reluctance rather than any real understanding of the social implications of two men sharing a single bed together naked. Given the way Castiel's body was sitting up and taking notice, however, the barrier of clothing was definitely more to help him keep himself under control.

That control proved just as... _difficult_ to come by when he finally got Sam into one of the biggest shirts he had and a pair of his old PT shorts. What would usually fit Castiel fairly loosely turned out to be much shorter and tighter on Sam, highlighting and defining all the dips and curves of solid muscles visible in Sam's long legs, strong arms, and broad chest and back. Add to that the unexpected possessive punch to the gut that Castiel felt over seeing Sam wearing _his clothes_ , and he wasn't so sure anymore that his exhausted state would be enough to keep his limited blood supply from diverting south.

He sat on the bed again and put his head in his hands, trying not to groan aloud. This wasn't precisely a nightmare - a real nightmare would have been waking up to find that Sam was dead, not transformed by the dead witch's spell into a human - but it was definitely a test to his sanity that he wasn't sure how to cope with. His sexuality had never been a question before, never mattered when it was just him and his dog and the hunt keeping him too busy to care whether his mind conjured up a man or a woman to go with his right hand's efforts.

Now Sam was human, or at least human-shaped, and he was incredibly fit and handsome in ways Castiel couldn't ignore but also couldn't believe he was allowed to acknowledge. This was _Sam_ , his _dog_ , who despite not being dog-shaped right now still mostly had the mind of a dog, or at least the limited understanding of human behavior that a dog might be expected to have. Even putting aside the moral issue of Castiel finding his _pet_ attractive, what would Sam think of his best friend and owner lusting after him? Would he even understand what was happening?

"Castiel?"

Castiel looked up to find that Sam had found one of the hotel room's glasses and filled it with water and was now holding it out to him. The gesture was very thoughtful from a human, and Castiel wondered a little at the thought process that must have gone into Sam choosing to do this. The look on Sam's face, however, froze Castiel in place mid-reach for the glass. It was calm and patient and _knowing_ in a way Castiel couldn't begin to interpret.

"Drink," Sam prompted him when Castiel just sat there staring up into those strangely mesmerizing eyes. "You hit your head and were unconscious for over four hours, and that's after a fight with the witch. If I'm thirsty, I know you are, and I don't know how to open those bottles with the yellow fizzy liquid in them."

"Beer," Castiel mumbled, cheeks heating as he took the glass of water obediently. "They're beer bottles, and it's fine. I shouldn't have alcohol after getting knocked out anyway."

"Beer," Sam murmured. "No alcohol after getting knocked out. Beer is alcohol?"

"It has alcohol in it. Not much, not like whiskey or tequila, but still."

"I'll need you to show me both of those sometime," Sam huffed with a small laugh. "Now drink, Castiel, please. You need the liquid."

Castiel answered by taking a cautious swallow of the proffered water, finding it cool but not cold and not tepid either. The glass was drained in three gulps, and he lowered it to find Sam watching him with a pleased smile on his face. "What is it?"

"You've always taken such good care of me," Sam said, apparently understanding what his owner was asking. "I'm just happy I'm able to take care of you, too, now."

There was something in that sentence that should have been innocent, but still sent a bolt of heat through Castiel that made his cock twitch and subsequently increased his embarrassment. The look in Sam's eyes changed as his nostrils flared slightly, obviously catching the change in Castiel's scent, and his head tilted to one side as he regarded Castiel with those dark and knowing eyes.

"Do you need the slippery stuff and the tissues now?" he asked, his tone holding nothing so much as mild curiosity.

Castiel dropped his head back into his hands with a groan. "No, I'm not going to need the lube and tissues," he muttered at the carpet. He wouldn't, either. He refused to give in to this... _idiocy_ of lust that was smacking him over the head just because his best friend now had a human body. He also refused to acknowledge the little voice trying to suggest that he make use of the lube anyway, because they were in a single room with one bed and that was... no.

"Lube?" Sam repeated, nearly making Castiel whimper.

"Lubricant, specifically water-based lubricant intended for sexual purposes and I can't believe we're even having this conversation," he groaned, dropping his hands to look up at Sam with a certain amount of trepidation. The conversation that was apparently going to happen whether he liked it or not would have been awkward enough with another human, but Sam had been a dog up until a few hours ago - might still be mostly a dog mentally, Castiel really couldn't tell - and he had no idea how human concepts of sexuality would translate to a dog's perspective, or vice versa.

"Water-based lubricant for sexual purposes," Sam was repeating in a thoughtful tone. "Because female human bodies are able to become slippery inside naturally, but male bodies don't. But you use the slippery stuff... the _lube_ on your hand. Is that to make your hand feel more like a female's body?"

"Not... exactly," Castiel choked out. He was starting to feel a little faint. "It's about, uh, friction. Dry skin rubbing together starts to hurt after too long without something slick between the skin layers, like, uh, lotion, or lube, or... something." He'd used a variety of different things as lube when he was jerking off over the years, but knew that only some of those were appropriate to use as lube when there was actual sex happening, and it felt somehow very important to make sure that Sam knew that, too.

"I see," Sam tilted his head thoughtfully as he regarded Castiel with that strangely knowing look. "And talking about this makes you uncomfortable? Even though you've used the lube and tissues many times around me before now without showing any discomfort or embarrassment?"

"I..." Castiel started, then shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry, Sam. I'm trying... very hard not to freak out or start second-guessing myself around you because you're still my Sam, and the human body is... different, but it's not a bad thing unless it starts being a problem for _you_...."

"But my having a human body is still making you look at me differently?" Sam asked. He frowned in thought for a moment, then blinked, his expression clearing in realization. "Oh! Your scent changed when you looked at me. Is that why you're uncomfortable? Do you want to mate with me?"

The sound that emerged from Castiel's throat was not that dissimilar from the whine Sam had made as a full-on canine, and Castiel caught the sight of Sam's startled jerk and wide eyes just before he buried his face back in his hands again, halfway tempted to try and smother himself since he knew it was futile to hide the flush of his face of the scent of his embarrassment. His arousal, at least, was well and truly killed by this point, but he knew better than to believe it was over and done with, never to trouble him again. God, if he didn't know it would lead nowhere good to even try, he'd be half tempted to go out and resurrect the witch just so Castiel could kill him again for casting the spell responsible for putting him through this!

There was a pause, while Castiel wished the floor would open up and swallow him and Sam remained ominously silent, and then the bed dipped beneath another human body's added weight. Castiel held still, and a moment later he felt the tentative touch of a largish hand come down on his head and card through his hair, stroking backwards along his skull towards the back of his neck before lifting away and repeating the process.

Was Sam... petting him?

"You're upset," Sam murmured, as if answering Castiel's silent question. "It always makes me feel better when you do this for me when I'm upset, but if this is one of those dog-to-human differences I'm going to need to learn you can tell me to stop and I will."

"It kind of is," Castiel mumbled into his palms. Sam's hand stilled in his hair and Castiel peeked through his fingers to see chestnut-colored hair as Sam lowered his head towards his hunched shoulders. "You don't have to stop. It..." He trailed off and swallowed, lowering his hands so Sam could see his heat-suffused face as Castiel let himself lean into the hand on his head just a little. "It does help, kinda."

"Okay," Sam mumbled, nodding a little. He resumed stroking Castiel's hair, petting him the way Castiel had always pet him before, and Castiel felt some of the tension in his shoulders and neck release in spite of himself. It really did feel good, more intimate than a hug but not nearly so charged with implication as a kiss. As it was, Castiel almost missed it when Sam whispered, "I'm sorry I keep embarrassing and upsetting you."

_Oh, Sam, no...._

"Sam, _I_ am sorry that I keep getting so embarrassed over stuff," Castiel said, forcing himself to look at Sam directly, then twisting a little to put his head lower so as to meet Sam's eyes. "Hey. _You_ aren't upsetting me, Sam. My embarrassment is upsetting me, not you. And you aren't embarrassing me, either. You're asking questions, which is what you're supposed to do when you want to learn something. That the questions you're asking are about subjects I'm embarrassed to talk about is on _me_ , not you." He huffed a short, awkward laugh as he added, "Guess I just need you to be patient with me and my embarrassment making it harder for you to learn what you want to know."

"Patient," Sam repeated, nodding. "I can do that. I'll be as patient as you need me to be, I promise!"

"And I promise to work on getting over my embarrassment," Castiel said. Sam straightened up, expression brightening, and then went very tense, almost vibrating. Worriedly, Castiel straightened up as well. "Sam? What's wrong?"

"I..." Sam shook his head a little, then carried the motion further and shook himself, as if he could try and settle himself more fully inside his human skin the way it seemed he did whenever he had given a full-body shake as a dog. "I wanted to jump up and show love the way I used to, but you're still recovering from being unconscious and I don't want to hurt you."

"Jump up and show love...?" Castiel tilted his head to one side, trying to puzzle out what Sam was referring to. It took a moment, but when it clicked he felt rather stupid for not having realized it sooner. "Oh! When you'd push into my chest and practically knock me over before climbing on me and licking my face?"

"Yes, that's what it is," Sam nodded, an odd look crossing his face. "Oh... I guess it sounds weird when you put it like that because humans don't... Well, I mean, you put your mouths on each other, but that always seems to be about mating, not love."

Well, it wasn't as if Sam was _wrong_. Castiel swallowed and scrubbed a hand over his face to try and encourage some of the heat to leave it. "It's not always so separated, at least not for humans. A lot of the time, humans will only, er, _mate_ with someone they also love. They can have sex with lots of people, but really mating, trying to start a family with kids, that's definitely about love." At least it was supposed to be. Castiel winced and shoved down the thoughts of his parents' divorce to focus on a much less fraught topic. "Kissing each other, putting our mouths together like you mentioned, is frequently part of that, but it's also used as a physical sign of love between two humans who've chosen to only mate with each other."

"I see," Sam hummed, his brows drawing together in thought. Castiel watched him, wondering what Sam's thought process must be like as he worked this new information about human concepts into what he had already known or guessed as a dog observing humans in general and Castiel in particular. "So, a human who mates with lots of other humans is doing it for fun, but when a human wants to have pups... kids? That's when they look for a lifemate?"

"Sometimes," Castiel temporized. "Not everyone wants to have kids. Some people can't have kids because their bodies aren't wired to let them, or the 'lifemate' they've chosen is the same sex or gender as them and they can't conceive kids together. Those couples might ask someone else to help, either to donate sperm or carry and give birth to the child for them, or they could adopt kids whose biological parents can't take care of them for some reason."

"Ohh," Sam's face smoothed out and he looked happier. He started to say something, then hesitated. "But you're still recovering."

"I... what?"

"You're still recovering," Sam repeated patiently. "Everything I've seen of human mating has been very energetic with a lot of bouncing around and making the bed make annoying noises, so you shouldn't engage in any mating tonight."

If the embarrassment didn't kill him, the whiplash from the bouncing topics would probably do it. "I did say I didn't need the lube and tissues tonight," Castiel managed to choke out, biting the inside of his cheek when Sam looked at him quizzically. "No mating tonight, Sam, not even the solo kind. Just sleep."

"Sleep will be better for your recovery than bouncing around," Sam agreed. He was looking pensive again, looking at the single bed, then down at himself. "Am I even going to be able to fit on the bed with you like this?"

"It's a king," Castiel pointed out, stifling a sigh when Sam just looked confused. "Nevermind. The bed is very big. It might be a close fit, given our respective heights and all, but yes, we'll both fit comfortably on it."

"Even if I end up spread out everywhere like I usually do?" Sam asked hesitantly. Amusement and dismay warred in Castiel at the sight of his currently human-shaped dog giving him puppy eyes. He swallowed.

"Yes, even if you end up sprawled all over me like usual," he assured Sam, smiling helplessly when he perked up once more.

"Okay!" And Castiel could almost swear he could see the phantom image of Sam's wagging tail before the serious expression was back. "As long as there's no mating tonight."

It was, Castiel realized as he nodded while trying desperately to keep from spontaneously combusting in embarrassment, going to be a very long night.

**D** ESPITE HIS CONCERNS, Castiel fell asleep almost immediately with Sam curled up against his side, larger and less furry than Castiel was used to but still the same solid bulk of warmth and soft snuffling snores. He awoke some time later to a room dimly lit from sunlight peeking through the curtains and an empty bed, though he figured out where Sam had gone quickly enough as he roused enough to make sense of the murmurs coming from nearby.

"--woke up around three forty-seven," he heard the familiar-unfamiliar voice of his familiar (and he was _not_ going to giggle like a lunatic at that thought) saying to someone over by the door. "He was a little disoriented, but he could answer questions and his pupils were the same size, so we got cleaned up in the shower and I made him drink some water before we went to bed."

"And you're sure neither of you was injured too bad?" and that was not the hotel manager that had checked them in, so this must be the night manager who had helped Sam get into their room last night.

"No, only... what is the word when all the bleeding is under the skin?" Sam asked.

"Bruises," the manager answered, an odd note to his voice. "Guessing English ain't your first language, eh?"

"Not my first language, no," Sam agreed with a wry sort of amusement that had Castiel struggling to stifle a snicker. The amusement dried up when Sam added with clear fondness and admiration, "Castiel has been helping me learn English better, ever since I left my family to be with him."

"You're pretty good with it already," the manager noted. "Hardly any accent at all." There was a pause, then the manager added, "He means a lot to you, huh?"

"He means everything to me," Sam said quietly, and Castiel could almost picture the intent expression of calm knowing on the dog-turned-man's face, the same one from last night. "It's not always easy, and sometimes things go wrong or we don't understand each other's meaning, but I wouldn't go back or change it. I will always choose him."

If Castiel had been thinking about making his conscious state known before, now he could barely think through the wash of feelings that swung like a pendulum between a punch to the gut and melting into a puddle. It was affirmation and confirmation and exactly what Castiel had needed to hear despite - or perhaps even because of - their conversation last night, assuaging fears Castiel hadn't been fully aware of having that he was somehow taking advantage of Sam in ways he couldn't articulate because it hadn't mattered as much when Sam was a dog but was now deeply important with Sam in the shape of a human and asking Castiel about sex and mating and lifemates.

"Sounds like you two are pretty happy together," the manager was saying, and there was a hint of satisfaction in the tone indicating he'd been looking for something and Sam's answers had satisfied him. The next thing he said, however, would have made Castiel fall out of bed if he wasn't playing at being asleep so hard. "Ever thought about getting married?"

There was a long pause, during which Castiel could hardly bring himself to breathe and desperately wished he could see Sam's face to try and guess what his best friend was thinking that he was silent for so long, and then Sam asked in that innocently curious tone, "Would that even be allowed for us?"

"Not here in Nebraska, no," the hotel manager said apologetically as if he wasn't breaking Castiel's brain even asking, "but they legalized it out in California this past year, and getting married would probably smooth over any issues you might have getting citizenship."

"I see," Sam answered, and there was that thoughtful, considering tone again. Castiel felt the urge to laugh in hysterics rising as the implications of the manager's apparent assumptions hit home, and he ruthlessly wrestled it down into a cough instead. The sound clearly caught Sam's attention, because he said, "I think Castiel might be waking up. Thank you again for your help last night."

"No trouble, no trouble," the manager said easily. "You boys take care of yourselves and each other, and remember check-out is at--"

"Eleven, and breakfast ends at eight," Sam broke in. "I remember, sir. Thank you, and have a good morning."

"He probably thinks you're my illegal immigrant boyfriend from Russia or someplace," Castiel rasped as soon as the door closed, then coughed and chewed on the inside of his cheek for some saliva to swallow in order to clear his throat.

"I guess that would sound more believable to him than a dog changing into a human," Sam hummed. Castiel opened his eyes to see Sam crossing to the table where there was already a refilled cup of water waiting. He picked it up and brought it to Castiel, who sat up to take it without prompting. "Is that a good lie to explain me to strangers, or should we think of something else?"

"It's as good as anything," Castiel answered once he had a swallow of water down, "though we should probably be coy about the 'illegal immigrant' thing. Most people would guess it anyway, but it's not something one just announces any more than talking about salting and burning ghosts or witches who make deals with demons and accidentally turn dogs into humans."

"And being an illegal immigrant is something that would explain not taking you to a hospital last night?" Sam asked, that thoughtful expression on his face again.

"It can be, or lack of health insurance," Castiel nodded. "In our case, even without either health insurance or documentation of your existence as a human and US citizen, most hospitals have a policy of only talking to a patient's immediate family about their condition or letting them in to see the patient, so we'd need special paperwork declaring you my next of kin and power of attorney - that's someone who can make medical decisions for me if I can't - or call Gabe and wait for him to show up."

"So we should add talking to Gabe about my new shape as well as Tasha Banes," Sam said. "And see about getting the paperwork you mentioned, because I don't like the idea of anybody keeping me away from you when you're hurt."

"Or we could both just take care not to get so badly injured we have to risk getting a hospital to patch us up," Castiel teased, but sobered when Sam gave him a pained look and a low whine.

"You didn't wake up for so long," he whispered. "The hotel manager said he would take you to a hospital if you didn't wake up before he came to check on us. This hunting we do is so _dangerous_ for you, and now even being human might not keep me by your side if you're hurt."

"Sam--"

"I know you were awake when I told him you are everything to me, so I know you know I meant it," Sam interrupted, looking incredibly young despite the adult appearance - God, he was only three years old as a dog! - and all but shaking in front of Castiel with a kind of nervous energy Sam didn't seem to know how to express in his new body. "And you got hurt badly, even with me there, you could have d-died... I can't lose you, Castiel, I just can't!"

That was enough. Castiel set the glass of water down on the bedside table and scrambled out of bed to wrap his arms around Sam in a tight hug. Sam froze, a low whine resonating in his throat, still trembling in Castiel's arms. He didn't try to move away, but he didn't move any other way either, and after a moment Castiel murmured, "This is the part where you hug back."

"Oh," Sam mumbled, hiccuping a little. Slowly, hesitantly, he lifted his arms and wrapped them around Castiel the same way Castiel had his own arms around Sam. When Castiel made an encouraging noise, he tightened his hold and pressed his face into Castiel's shoulder. The shaking didn't entirely stop, but it did ease, and after a few minutes Sam mumbled, "What are we doing?"

"Hugging," Castiel answered, lifting one hand to stroke along Sam's spine like he would pet his dog-shaped self. "A human expression of comfort and love without being as tied up in sex or mating as kissing."

"Oh," Sam said again, and cautiously nuzzled into Castiel's shoulder. He shifted, hands flexing against Castiel's back. "This feels weird. Is this weird?"

"Bad weird or good weird?" Castiel asked, starting to loosen his hold. He stopped when Sam tightened his own grip on him.

"Good weird," the former dog answered. "Which is also weird, because being trapped by arms felt more scary than good before."

"Sorry," Castiel winced, thinking of all the times he'd hugged Sam in the past three years. Sam huffed softly near Castiel's ear and squeezed again, almost testingly.

"It's... okay," he murmured, ducking his head in what was unmistakably a nuzzle. "I understand why you were doing it now, and even when I didn't understand I still knew you wouldn't hurt me."

"Never on purpose," Castiel agreed, squeezing Sam gently in return and feeling Sam truly start to relax into the embrace. "I might still hurt you by accident, especially when I start teaching you how to fight as a human, but now you can tell me when I do and I'll understand better."

"You did a good job understanding me before," Sam assured him. "But now you can teach me how to tell you important things faster so you won't have to guess."

"True," Castiel chuckled as a thought occurred to him. "This may have even solved one of our 'arguments' since we won't need the leash to go on walks anymore no matter what leash laws there are."

"Wow," Sam breathed, sounding a little stunned. A moment later, he hummed a little and then asked, "Do I still need to wear a collar?"

Castiel buried his face in Sam's shoulder and laughed.

**=End=**


End file.
